The Double Hairpin Chronicles

[A cool-headed, clever noblewoman fallen on hard times × a scheming regent who kills without mercy | Marriage before love + groveling after losing her + mutual redemption + both leads’ first love]

The day she offered to be buried alive as a sacrifice, everyone in the capital said the Jiang family’s adopted daughter had gone mad.

But they didn’t know the truth:

The Jiang family had tried to kill her time and again, and now they planned to marry her off to her murderous uncle.

Just as she was losing hope, an imperial decree arrived from the palace:

A consort was to be chosen for the late regent, to wed him in a ghost marriage and be buried with him.

Everyone else avoided the role. Only Jiang Wanli knew it was her one and only chance.

She refused to believe that the man who had rescued her from the Jiang family time and again, and who could control the winds of power with a flick of his hand, had truly died without a trace.

If this was a trap, she would make herself the piece and enter his game.

As she lay down in the coffin, she closed her eyes and silently murmured,

“Xie Changying, don’t disappoint me.”

Just as the lid was about to close, a bloodstained hand suddenly braced against its edge.

A soft laugh sounded beside her ear.

“My lady, the ceremony is complete.”

He was alive, just as she had suspected. His fake death was part of his plan, and marrying her was another move in his scheme. At first, he was cold and wary, controlling her at every turn and treating her as a crucial piece on his chessboard.

But he hadn’t counted on this piece already being entangled with his fate.

She was clever and composed, protecting herself in danger and navigating political schemes without ever groveling for favor. He was cold and suspicious, yet with each clash and every act of protection, he gradually made exceptions for her and fell in love.